Parchment Burning

Nemirov 14 June, 1648 The first major massacre during the Chmielnicki uprising took place in the city of Nemirov. Jews from the countryside had fled to Nemirov, as the town was fortified. However, Chmielnicki dispatched 600 Cossacks, who dressed up as Polish soldiers. (At least, according to legend.) The town opened its gates and the Cossacks rushed in. Once inside, the Cossacks demanded that the Jews in town convert to Christianity. When they refused, 6,000 Jews were slaughtered. "In the synagogue, before the Holy Ark, they slaughtered with butcher knives the choirs and cantors and beedles, there they sacrificed the children of Israel as burnt offerings, offering themselves up as sacrifices like rams and sheep and goats...after which they destroyed the synagogue and took out all the Torah books, old and new, and they tore them to bits and they laid them out for men and animals to trample on." ( Megilat Afa ) In the following years, the Council of the Four Lands decree

Sierpc, Poland September, 1939 The German army entered the town o Sierpc in September, 1939. On the night of the 29th of September, the second night of Sukkot, they set fire to the largest synagogue in town. ( Virtual Shtetl )  Hela Lipstapad-Izakowicz relates that some Jews, her father included, tried to put out the fire but could not do so. One was killed by the Germans during the attempt:  "A certain yeshiva student, the son of Farber, who forced his way into the synagogue with self-sacrifice, was shot by the Germans." ( Yizkor Book ) Another townsperson, Beila Rabinowicz, recalled the awful night:  "I will never forget the great fire that spread through the Jewish streets when the Germans set the synagogue on fire. We ran to a neighbor. From there, we looked out the window. Suddenly, my father shouted, 'Children, look. The Holy Ark is tumbling down.' We heard a shot. Victims who ran to save the Torah scrolls fell."  ( Yizkor Book ) This eve

Weinheim, Germany 20 September, 1298 According the entry in the Nuremberg Memorbuch, the Jews of Weinheim were burnt to death in their synagogue on Shabbat, two days before the start of Sukkot. 78 people were killed in the flames.  The attack was led by a Franconian knight named Rintfleisch, who claimed that the Jews had desecrated the host (eucharist wafers). Rindleisch led similar massacres in 146 Jewish communities across southern and central Germany that year and lasting for several years. ( Encylopedia.com ) Several kinot were written about the event, describing the horrible destruction, but none mention the town of Weinheim by name.  The community managed to go on, only to be attacked again, fifty years later, at part of the persecutions surrounding the Black Death. ( Juden in Weinheim )

Jelgava, Latvia July 1941 The Germans occupied the town of Jelgava at the end of June, 1941. In the following month they began to wipe out the town's Jewish community. At one point, one of the synagogues was burned to the ground with Jews inside: "Many of them were forced into the synagogue and burned alive in it." ( Churban Lettland by Max Kaufmann, 111)  As the synagogue burned, the rabbi refused to leave the building. Other Jewish townsmen were forced to stand by outside and witness the it burn. Abram Leiser was one of those killed. He was the butcher and a friend of the rabbi. ( Latvian Jews )

Frysztak, Poland Rosh Hashana, 1939 Frysztak was occupied by German troops on 8 September, 1939. A week later, on the second day of Rosh Hashana, the Germans surrounded the synagogue, killed some of the worshipers, and burned the Torahs. ( Kehilalinks , Virtual Shtetl ) "They burst into the worship places and killed a few congregants, set on fire the holy books and took with them four or five Jews." ( Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities ) Leon Gersten, who grew up in Frysztak, recalls the event: "We all laid down on the floor and started praying Shema Yisrael. After killing a few Jews, they let us out - that was our first introduction to the Germans." ( matzav.com ) Although none of the sources I have seen mention the names of the victims, I did discover one on the Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names: Leibush Arie Pantzer, who was 16 at the time. His parents were Mordechai Pantzer and Chana Klotz. On the witness sheet his brother submitte

York, England 16 March, 1190 Sometimes in the telling of history, certain elements become such a standard that they are added to the story even though there is no evidence. We sometimes find descriptions of a massacre set in synagogue, even though it took place elsewhere. In March, 1190, 150 Jews were massacred in York, England. When riots began, the Jews of York were given royal protection and invited into the local castle for defense. The keep was surrounded by rioters and as the incensed rabble called for Jewish blood, the Jews inside decided that their best option was suicide. With the blessing of their spiritual leader, Rabbi Yom Tov, the men slew the women and children and then set fire to the wooden keep, thus ending their lives. This event is reported by local non-Jewish sources, including William of Newburgh, the Chronicles of the Abbey of Meaux in East Yorkshire, and Roger of Howden. ( History of York ) The location of the massacre is not disputed. Nonetheless, in a

15 September 1939 Dynow, Poland Like many towns in the region, Dynow was occupied by the German army on 11 September, 1939. On the first day hundreds of Jews were rounded up and killed. That year the prayers on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur were especially harried. After the first round of killing, the Germans continued to torture and execute local Jews. They decided to burn one of the synagogues as well. "They then took all the holy books from the study center and the other synagogue and spread them out on the floor. They then threw an incendiary bomb and shortly thereafter the entire synagogue was on fire. The flames reached the sky and lit the entire hamlet and the horizon with a red light that terrified everybody." While the synagogue was burning, the Germans threw three or four Jews inside, where they perished. "The screams of the old men were heard along the entire street of the synagogue. ( Destruction of Dynow, Sanko, Dubiecko , ed. David Moritz) According t

117 CE Alexandria, Egypt During the holiday of Chanuka, Jews light candles to celebrate the holiday and, according to the Talmud Bavli, to commemorate a miracle in which a small jar of pure oil lasted for eight days. We light candles in a visible location to publicize the miracles of the holiday and as a symbol of our joy. However, due to the often precarious situation of Jews in the world, the law states that "in a time of danger, when one cannot keep this mitzva [of lighting in a public place], one can place it on their table and this is enough." (Shulchan Aruch, 671:5, based on Talmud Bavli Shabbat 21b) This, unfortunately, was not an idle concern and recalls a story about Alexandria. The Jewish community in Alexandria was one of the strongest and oldest in the diaspora. It's not surprising that it was also one of the earliest locations of anti-Jewish riots and synagogue violence. Riots took place in 38 CE, 40, and 66, but the biggest one occurred in 117, known